As kids, we both had some natural desires to “be our own boss” in some way. Dan delivered newspapers and sold rocks while I loved lemonade stands and garage sales.
In Part 1 of this series we shared a bit about how we’ve tried numerous businesses throughout the 10 years – some that were actual extensions of our natural selves and others were more likely visions of who we thought we were…
Our Journey: Part 2
***What’s your why? Your one thing? Your purpose?***
It’s a question a lot of us have heard over the years…
Especially as adults as we grow into our work lives and try to find a reason for doing what we do.
Why you became a teacher, stay at home mom, pastor, coach, doctor…
Over the last decade we have had what we thought were our “whys” What the purpose of being full time photographers? To work from home and pay for Dan’s MBA. Why do we want to do another year of photography? Because that other business just hasn’t taken off yet.
But these weren’t quite big enough.
Having your why, or your purpose, be big enough is just as important as having one in the first place.
We recently camped in the Wasatch Mountains just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Between a book I was reading {more on that later} and some great conversations with Dan, we realized our vision for our lives was far too narrow.
Each new photography season brought a new goal. It’s great to have goals but our goals just took us year by year. We never truly sat down to dream beyond that.
I briefly talked about that at the start of Part 1, but wanted to visit that again…
When I was young I thought all life included was graduating from high school and college, getting married/a job, having kids and eventually retiring. Although that sounds like a fine life, what I lacked was a great purpose and vision for WHY I would do those things.
I was going to be a teacher. If you asked me why I would have said because I love kids (and in my family, most everyone is an educator or pastor of some form – so I chose the ladder!)
When we became photographers if you would have asked me why we would have said because we love photography and want to be our own bosses…
Of course we’ve loved the time freedom we’ve found along the way. It is such a gift to be able to leave midday when you get some bad news to be with a friend or take every Tuesday off just because you can.
We’ve written other “whys” before – like when I first started “trying” the business side of Young Living. When I didn’t rank up fast and when people just didn’t show up to classes I attributed that to it just not being for me. However, just like with photography and other businesses we’ve tried, we just hadn’t found the right why yet.
My introduction to “having a why” didn’t happen until I started using Young Living. This concept was new for me and it was exciting to start really thinking about why I was doing something. This opened up a new world of options outside of what I was currently living.
If you’ve been around a 2-3 year old for any period of time you’d know what one of their favorite things to say is… “Why?”
But what is also the #1 response to the age-old question? “Because.” Don’t get me wrong, I get it. We have a lot of kiddos in our lives and they can ask a LOT of questions in one day. So because becomes a very easy answer.
It can also end up giving them the frame of reference that they’re better off just not asking why. Just go with what you know and don’t ask questions.
So now we’re dreaming, no, “purposing” bigger. We’re adventuring to places we haven’t been and we’re asking ourselves lots of (bigger) whys.
We took time while we were away in June to write out big life statements that portray a greater feeling of what we want our lives to represent. We each declared big, BIG goals. These are the kind of goals that gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes when I read them out loud to Dan – when I spoke them out loud I could, for the first time actually PICTURE myself fulfilling those unspoken dreams of my heart.
How would that change your daily life if you started living and working towards goals SO big, but SO you and SO achievable?
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